Here’s an expanding list of resources that may be helpful for psych/mental health specialties, general medical information/references, and guidance:
Powerhouse Websites
Medscape: the most comprehensive clinical information and resources essential to physicians and healthcare professionals. Medscape networks also include major websites like WebMD, Medicine.net, & RxList.
Healthy Place: provides information and support to people with mental health concerns, along with their family members and other loved ones. Great place for the general population. Governmental resources are astronomical plus free and you’ll truly be missing out if you don’t check their websites more often:
- Drug Abuse (National Institute of Drug Abuse Med) for medical and health professionals + CME/CE activities. Great resources for those who work in substance abuse treatment centers. NIDAMED has a spotlight on NPs.
- Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies) focuses on health/medicine, and the Health and Medicine Division (HMD) (previously called Institute of Medicine/IOM) focuses on trending topics such as climate change. Institute of Healthcare Improvement has multiple pages of resources and is also affiliated, providing information and publications devoted to health care.
- Mental Health: if you find it difficult to talk to someone about mental health, it’s the best! They break down information in easy and simple formats.
- The National Inst. of Mental Health (NIMH) & National Inst. of Minority Health & Health Disparities (NIMHD) is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: beautiful in-depth information about mental disorders, laws, grants, and tons of resources!
- The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) discusses the impact of substance abuse and mental illness in communities. For anything substance abuse-related, try to look at Drug Abuse and MentalHealth.net -developed and maintained by American Addiction Centers, a leading provider of both residential and outpatient addiction treatment services.
- Women’s Health, Youth, World Health Organization
- Be aware of the golden standards or the NIMH Practical Clinical Trials a step-wise approach to mental disorders.
Helpful Resources for Psychopharmacology/Medications
Stahl online and a Free Book! Essential Pharmacology 2nd ed. (it’s outdated but gets you started in the right direction).
- Peter Breggin (breggin.com): is a leading voice in advising caution in the use of psychotropics. His website has a wide array of articles, books, videos, and podcasts
- Pharmacology Institute
- A Comprehensive Review by Dr. Jassin
- Key Concepts of Psychopharm
- Science Daily
- Journal of Psychopharmacology
- Teaching the Prescriber’s Role: The Psychology of Psychopharmacology
- Also, check out Psychiatric Times
5 Major Resources to Lookup Medications
- DailyMed: contains over 92,000 drug listings, including US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved package inserts. The package insert is also linked to ClinicalTrials.gov, which provides data on completed and ongoing studies. Additionally, you can report adverse events to the FDA’s MedWatch program. If you need to identify a medication, then you can do so through the ID tool known as Pillbox.
- MedlinePlus: a great consumer health information resource published by the National Library of Medicine and available both in English and Spanish languages. This is a great website to use for patient counseling. MedlinePlus contains information on prescription and over-the-counter medications written in lay language. Herbal product information is also available through the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Let patients know about this resource so that they can become more knowledgeable about their medications. MedlinePlus also contains medication safety alerts from the FDA and health videos.
- FDA: website contains a plethora of information that will help keep you up-to-date. You can also register to receive updates on new medication approvals and drug recalls. Check out the newly designed Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations, also known as the Orange Book. It has been updated to enable you to search the resources more efficiently. The Orange Book shows products that are therapeutically equivalent for generic drug substitution. You can also search for patent information to have a better idea of when generic drugs will be available for specific brand products. There is also a new app called the Orange Book Express allowing you to search easily from your Apple or Android device.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): provide patients with the most up-to-date information. The monthly published Vital Signs report provides pertinent information on a variety of health topics including HIV and injection drug use, prescription drug abuse, and food safety.
- Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA): check out the fact sheets on various controlled substances and drugs of concern including narcotics, stimulants, and bath salts. The Pharmacist’s Manual is also available through the DEA website. This outlines the Federal Controlled Substances Act and how it affects the pharmacy practice setting. Keep in mind that it was last updated in 2010, so new laws and regulations may not be reflected in the manual. You can also access all of the current controlled substance laws and regulations through the DEA website. The Question and Answers tab provides valuable information on controlled substance matters including prescription drug monitoring programs, DEA Form 222, and electronic prescriptions.
-Pharmacy Times
Drug Bank (Personal Favorite): a comprehensive, free-to-access, online database containing information on drugs and drug targets. As both a bioinformatics and a cheminformatics resource, they combine detailed drug (i.e. chemical, pharmacological, and pharmaceutical) data with comprehensive drug target (i.e. sequence, structure, and pathway) information.
Additional Rx Websites
- RX List
- Drugs.com (prescription)
- Drug Info by the National Institute of Health
- Consumer Health Information (MedlinePlus)
- Drugs, Supplements, and Herbal Information
- Drug Therapy Topics
- Medical Data and Literature (PubMed/Entrez)
- References from Scientific Journals (Medline/PubMed)
- Full-text biomedical articles (PubMed Central)
- Toxicological Data and Literature (Toxnet)
- Drugs in Clinical Trials (ClinicalTrials.gov)
- Approved Package Inserts for Drugs (DailyMed)
- HIV/AIDS Information (HIVInfo)
- Standard Nomenclature (RxNorm)
Psych Websites and Organizations
Continue Education & Seminars:
- Global Medical Education (GME): a medical education company, focusing primarily on psychiatry, that offers information from the world’s leading experts to clinicians around the world, through a variety of formats.
- INR (Institute for Natural Resources): an organization dedicated to the field of health science, offering over 600 live seminars yearly.
- Neuroscience Edu. Inst: examine breakthroughs in mental health care and treatment advances. Year after year, Synapse attendees walk away with insights that are clinically relevant to their practice.
- PESI: has many resources to educate students and professionals to develop their knowledge and skills. Occasionally have psychopharm seminars but some can be very BASIC. Try to sign up for ones where the speaker is a provider.
- Professional Psych Seminars: providing high-quality continuing education for mental health professionals. They have programs that integrate theory, research, and practice, and offer high-quality, engaging, simple-to-use, and hassle-free online classes.
- Psych U: comprised of over 36,000 care professionals dedicated to improving the future of mental health care through information, discussion, and collaboration.
- Vine Education: (formerly known as Cross Country Education) about healthcare professionals with clinical, skill-based continuing education… It’s affiliated with PESI but operates independently.
Networking
- The International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses (ISBN): is an international social network and also has resources.
- Facebook/Twitter: you can join psych groups on Facebook and follow mental health news and topics on Twitter. Interact more easily with peers/students and follow trends in mental health.
- LinkedIn: I have a profile, and although it can be spammy, it’s helpful for networking in general and not just in healthcare.
- Reddit: it’s a hit or miss but has a very interactive community.
Journals & Articles
- American Psychiatric Association: a variety of mental health/psych journal publications (very costly).
- CINAHL: the world’s largest source of full text for nursing and allied health journals, and provides full text for more than 1,300 journals indexed.
- EBSCO: the leading provider of research databases, e-journals, magazine subscriptions, e-books, and discovery services to libraries of all kinds. Suitable for general research and databases -also has a great health blog.
- Journal of the American Medical Association: JAMA has a very robust network, especially for psych! that combines the latest research, author interviews, apps, and learning courses from reputable sources.
- Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association: JAPNA is the journal published by the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, an organization of 8000+ psych nurses seeking to improve the mental health of our nation.
- New England Journal of Medicine: NEJM delivers high-quality, peer-reviewed research and interactive clinical content to physicians, educators, and the global medical community.
- Pub Med: tons of great/free full-linked articles that also help with APA citations!
-Colleges/Schools should offer these journals & publications for free…
Clinical Assistance/Apps
*Sometimes major employers, hospitals, facilities, etc. will cover for these apps/subscriptions
Medscape Clinical Tool: It’s FREE! check drug interactions, read articles, earn CME’s and so much MORE…other nice high-quality apps include:
- 5-Minute Consult: great and quick references to over 2000 topics on procedures, tests, and diagnosis. (1-year subscription $120)
- Epocrates Plus: delivers clinical intelligence, including clinical practice guidelines, in-depth disease content, and alternative medicines. ($174.99/yr)
- Lexicomp: includes extensive, clinical resources designed to assist various prescribers/caregivers. Content is presented in a clear, concise, point-of-care format and covers a wide variety of patient populations and areas of specialization. (1-year subscription starts at $119)
- UpToDate: offers subscribers mobile access options, tools and graphics, complementary patient information articles, and much more. (1-year subscription for $199)
MD Focused/Geared Websites
- American Family Physician: AFP has information about general health topics that are helpful for physical/medical symptoms…
- Carlat Reports: provides clinicians with practical, engaging, and unbiased psychiatric education. Some of the products (reports, books, and courses) are $$$ but great up-to-date information, newsletters, and articles written by top mental health leaders.
- The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: helpful with children or adolescent populations.
- Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Psychiatry: experienced clinicians and close proximity to thousands of the world’s top clinician-researchers. A lot of groundbreaking information for psychiatry.
- Doctor Lib: MD resources about everything about the human body and the reading is not easy but very comprehensive.
- Psycom.net: quality mental health information to better inform patients and the healthcare professionals treating them.
- Psych Scene Hub: a community of about everything psych-related and very in-depth articles related to mental health. Also, has a great reading community.
- Stahl Online: the leader of psychopharmacology and the golden standard for learning about prescribing.
- MD Edge Psychiatry: MD Edge has subcategories (cardiology, internal medicine…) but its psychiatry website has great articles and nice quizzes to test your knowledge and understanding of mental disorders. Also similar in this category is The Carlat Report Psychiatry, which also offers high-quality content.
- American Psychiatric Assoc. (APA): this organization is related to psychiatrists *it’s not the same as the American Psychology Association (APA), which is related to psychologists.
Honorable Mentions/International Websites
- American Association of Nurse Practitioners: I wasn’t going to include AANP because they barely recognized Psych NPs , but I was able to find something in their therapeutic area.
- American Mental Health Foundation: advocates for improving the quality of treatment, developing more effective methods of research, and making professional treatment available to lower-wage individuals.
- College of Psychiatric & Neurologic Pharmacists: specialized clinical knowledge and skills, educate and train health care professionals to improve health outcomes for individuals with psychiatric disorders, including substance use and neurologic disorders. They also have resources and tools such as benzo tapering and a journal called The Mental Health Clinician.
- Univadis: a free, time-saving medical news & education community designed exclusively for healthcare professionals. A lot of information that I have yet to explore.
- Very Well Mind: an online resource that provides the guidance you need to improve your mental health and find balance.
- Psych Guides: mental health disorder treatment guidelines and consumer guides information for the identification of symptoms and signs of psychological disorders, and effective treatment and recovery.
- Psychology Today: a group of renowned psychologists, academics, psychiatrists, and writers to contribute their thoughts and ideas. I enjoy the articles because it’s easy reading and not too medical and dense.
- Daily Mail: very tabloid-like but like Psychology Today, tons of easy reading, in addition to health/medical sections. The Daily Mail (UK-based) and other international websites have great information about mental health but sometimes can have major differences so like everything else always double-check:
- The International College of Neuro-Psychopharmacology (CINP) & International Journal
- National Health Service– UK, org
- Tools– UK
- Canadian Mental Health
- Different Types of Treatment
- Guides and Publications
- CANMAT: Canadian network of mood and anxiety disorders
- Psychopharmacology Institute: I love their videos about medications and great information that’s primarily free. They also have a YouTube channel.
- The British Association for Psychopharmacology & Resources: promotes research and education in psychopharmacology and related areas.
- SANE Australia: trustworthy, easy-to-read, evidence-based information on complex mental illness and mental health, for all readers.
- SickKids: Canada’s most research-intensive hospital and the largest center dedicated to improving children’s health.
- Mind.org: England-based providing advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem.
MISC
- A Medical Student’s Blog: resources and help for students getting through their studies and just great ideals/support to stay motivated.
- Becker’s Hospital Review: learn about CMS, Medicaid/care, fraud, liabilities, bankruptcies, failures, and laws/bills -Becker’s website is def informative and insightful.
- Dr. Melissa DeCapua: a PMHNP, DNP whose website has great book recommendations and insight about blogging, policy, and DNP information.
- Healio: features the industry’s best news reporting, dynamic multimedia, question-and-answer columns, CME, and other educational activities in a variety of formats, quick reference content, blogs, peer-reviewed journals…
- Kenneth S. Pope: this website offers peculiar topics that affect mental health professionals i.e. resources for therapists who are stalked, threatened, or attacked by patients, refugees, torture, and special needs animals, overall it covers a variety of interesting articles and subjects.
- MMitnetwork: A website and an app where you can enter a prescription drug plan to see what medications are covered or find the preferred therapeutic alternative.
- MDLinx Top News for NPs: connects important medical news while providing the healthcare industries with educational and research content.
- Switching Antipsychotics, Antidepressants, Combine Mood Stabilizers, or BZD Conversion by PsychNet
Extra Misc. Online
- Wikipedia & YouTube: similar to Google’s importance, great for anything you need help understanding
- Khan’s Academy: used it a lot for hard subjects like math, physiology, and chemistry
- Quizlet: find practice questions, usually free but have premium options
- Pinterest: a quick fix of information
- A hospital’s website like John Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, or just about any major hospital or government website has many additional informative links!
Helpful Pages for Student Nurses, Nursing School 🧑⚕️
Last Updated 2025